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The New Orleans Meetup: National World War ll Museum
First, you must visit this museum — it really is worth the trip to New Orleans all by itself.
On Sunday, during our “Big Easy” meetup, we gathered for breakfast near the National World War Museum then began our tour at 11 a.m. We intended to stay together, but there was simply no way for that to happen. Each exhibit is engrossing and affects everyone differently. You find yourself wandering alone in time, caught up in the full force of history presented fairly and in poignant detail.
The journey begins on a troop train:
At first, you see the usual:
You then have choices of where and when to explore the war, and it’s pretty immersive:
I found 3-D depictions of battles to be helpful in understanding the scope:
And there are fascinating biographies everywhere:
I simply could not absorb everything in one visit and intend to return soon. If you click this review of the Museum, there are much better pictures, and I’d be interested in the impressions of other Ricochetti of this remarkable place.
Published in General
Missed it on our last trip there a few years ago. Will not miss it again.
More on Joe Foss.
I LOVE that museum.
I haven’t been to the museum myself, but my brother has been there multiple times (his daughter went to Tulane) and he raves about it.
Had been to several WWII museums in the Normandy region of France, and Bastogne.
Thanks!
I visited on Veteran’s Day, 2002 (I think) when it was still the D-Day Museum. It was already unique in that it had the personal recorded reflections of many vets playing as you moved from exhibit to exhibit. I’d love to see it now.
Good number of vets were there that day, and they seemed to enjoy, in particular, answering kids’ questions.
There was also a way-too-short mention of Jackie Cochran. However, there is much more to her story, post war:
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/meet-jacqueline-cochran
All I know is, I’d go back to NOLA for the musuem alone. We hated to leave because there was still a lot to see, but it was getting close to time to head back to the house. Neutral observer was particularly interested in Guadalcanal, as her father was a Marine and recon photographer involved in the battle. She’s going to try and get his records to find out more about his unit and the details on what he did . . .
The museum is very interesting and always a fun visit. There are a lot of good stories behind the exhibits. For example, the C-47 in the lobby of the Louisiana Pavilion was bought by the museum after a curator found it on e-Bay. He did some research about its history, so they bought it. They flew it into the Lakefront Airport, took the wings off, trucked it to the museum, put the wings back on, and hung it from the ceiling. With a little prep, it’s still flyable.
Hopefully the runway wasn’t as “well maintained” as the streets in town . . .
Update: Or maybe they were and the wings fell off when they landed . . .
Obviously it’s expanded a lot since I was there in – uh, thinking about it. It was amazing, and is obviously a heck of a lot better than it was then. Which is hard to comprehend. I was chaperone for a group of teenagers. They really had little comprehension of what WWII really was. This is so important.
Yes, I would absolutely travel to NOLA just to see the museum again.
Is the Higgins boat still there?
I want to see that museum. I can also recommend the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.
The museum was excellent. Since I was leaving on Sunday, I visited it on Saturday while several other Ricochetti were taking a cooking class. (Great timing on my part, as it rained while I was inside the museum!) I was there three hours and did not see it all. I did get to both the Pacific and European theaters, but missed the Homefront and other exhibits. One of the staff there told me that the buildings occupy seven acres – there’s a lot to see!
My wife and spent a weekend in Fredericksburg; it happened to be Veteran’s Day that weekend.
I got free admission to the museum (or maybe a big discount, can’t recall for sure) and many of the downtown stores gave away samples or other freebies to us veterans there that weekend. Nice.
The museum has narrated animations of Naval battles that really do show how the battle was won or lost. Very well done.
I found the time I went the museum was kinda underwhelming, but that was because of the displays that time. War Museums are not designed for people like me though. They are meant for laymen who dont know anything about the subject. So unless Im there to check out a specific piece of equipment.
But I did love the Tom Hanks movie. Hope its still there.
I would love to see the museum but I am never in that area.
One day I was driving back to MA from Roanoke and randomly stumbled into the D-day memorial complex in Bedford, VA. If anyone is ever in the area you have to stop. Check out the link.. here
Your name is WarWriter for goodness’s sake. Museums are for regular to semi-knowledgable people. For me and my Dad, we learned alot and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
I have been there and can second that recommendation. I would plan for a full day, I spent 5 hours and still have some more stuff to go when they kick me out.
Exactly.
Good museums have something for all levels of previous knowledge. (I recently learned that there are professional museum people who agree. The topic came up in a discussion of Polish historical museums in the latest issue of American Historical Review.)
Thanks Mr. Chowder – didn’t know that existed.
The thing that set this museum apart for me was the use of short video narrations at various locations in the museum. It provided a historical framework in which to look at the static displays. Also, the little biographies (like Joe Foss above) scattered throughout the museum added a human face to much of what we saw . . .
I absolutely love this museum. I have visited three times and will go back again, I’m sure. I attended the conference/celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of the miniseries “Band of Brothers” last August and it was fabulous beyond words.
Next goal: Take one of the tours hosted by the museum. Might take a while to save up the money for it, as they’re expensive, but I know it’s worth it.